WWW Wednesdays (40) / Waiting on Wednesday (42): To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?






Currently Reading:

I wasn't able to follow my plan two weeks ago about reading Through The Ever Night next. I was too busy to finish the last book and now I have to start with Shudder by Samantha Durante (Stitch #2) because the blog tour will start this August. I'm afraid I won't be having that much time to read again. I do hope I could finish it on time, though.

Finished Reading:

The Year of the Great Seventh by Teresa Orts (The Tropic of the Cancer series #1)
Review soon!


Read Next:

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (The Lotus War #1)
For the Philippine blog tour. Can'y wait to start this one!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, originally started by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights upcoming book releases everyone is waiting on.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before
by Jenny Han

Expected publication: April 22nd 2014 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Blurb (Goodreads):

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters…

OMG. Is this book me? Not that the letters are mailed or there are, in fact, letters. But still. Anyway! Gotta. Have. This.

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Hello there lovely readers! How's your week been goin? Let me know the awesome book pick/list you have for this week by simply commenting below or pasting your link. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Music Monday (9): Discovered part II: Steve Moakler

Music Monday is a weekly meme created by yours truly. Let's talk about music on Mondays!

Hey guys! How was your week before? Awesome? Mine was tiring, and I bet this week would be 2x the effort and studying. But we can do this, right?

Today is the continuation of three-week "Discovered" series and I'm going to feature the artist who sang a song which title is my favorite fairytale. Can you guess the song and/or artist? :)

Steve Moakler

Cinderella

The title caught my eye so I tried listening to it. The moment the intro starts, it made my heart swoon. It's a very nice feeling. I loved listening to this song. I'm pretty sure every girl who loves fairytales and happy ending would swoon over this too. That's why I checked out his other songs.

All The Faint Lights

This song makes me wanna cry. I don't know why. Maybe it's the melody or the lyrics. Maybe you can find out by listening to it.

Play You Down

This is the first time I heard this but I'm going to feature it anyway. Just because I LIKE country boys music. ;)

You can also check out the live/acoustic version!

Run

How many times did you set love free, before you know what's supposed to be?

How long do you wait and see, before you know the road to me?

Lovely lyrics.

Thing About Us

*swoon*

This Ain't Rock and Roll

I plead guilty. I have a thing for country songs and dudes.

Best Thing

Waiting

Truth

Where You Belong

False Alarms

Don't Have to Think Twice

Boy That You Drew

True Like Your Name

So Soon

Stay Away From Me

This one's kinda different from the other songs above.

Hesitate

Slow Mo

* * *

Let your thoughts be heard! Leave your comments below and let's talk about this wonderful artist. May we all have a blessed and amazing new week! :)

Enjoy music and rock on!

What's Cool? Random stuff.

What's Cool? is an anytime meme where I feature all the Cool things that I received, happened,
about to happen, and anything that are Cool-worthy!

Hey everyone! It's been a long non-What's Cool weeks for us. I want to apologize for disappearing and re-disappearing on the blog. If you would let me, I'll explain. :D I've been really busy these past few weeks with my college stuff. If I haven't told you yet, Mondays to Wednesdays are my duty days and Thursdays til Saturday are my lecture days (12 hours on school per day, to be exact) so I didn't have time to write a blog post. Three weeks ago, I had a duty in Red Cross (two weeks) and we stayed there on the station because it would be impractical if we go home everyday. And let me tell you this: technically, there's no wifi there. There is, but they won't tell us the password and besides, I didn't brought the laptop with me because I'm afraid of losing it.

So that not a Cool thing, aye? But I can tell you the Cool ones!

Even though I felt bad about not updating this blog, I was also feeling extremely happy because my duty in Red Cross has paid off. Lookie!

*nevermind my photo. LOL*

I am now a trained first-aider and a disaster nurse! :D This and next week, our duty's on emergency room. Wish me luck!


One of the downsides of being busy is that I also don't have much time reading and that saddens me. I am also on requesting-and-accepting-review-requests hiatus right now so you won't be seeing much books for now.

Won:
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (His Fair Assassin #1)
Dark Triumph by robin LaFevers (His Fair Assassin #2)

For review/blog tour:
Shudder by Samantha Durante (Stitch #2)

These books arrived weeks ago. I won Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph from Mundie Moms during the Dark Triumph blog tour. Thank God I have relatives in US and I let them sent the books there because if I don't I won't be getting the books. So my relatives sent me these when there was an opportunity. I'm excited to get this whole year over so I could graduate, get a job and hopefully have a time for reading and blogging. I will make a way. ;)

Super thanks to Katie of Mundie Moms and Samantha Durante!



And one of the most Cool things that I got these past few weeks was...

My very own NIV Bible! I really like the cover and I'm so excited to read each word in this wonderful book. :)

***

Did you have a Cool week? What have you got? Any exciting stories? Share them with me below or you can also make your own post (make sure to link it back to me)!

Music Monday (8): Discovered part I: Andy Grammer

Music Monday is a weekly meme created by yours truly. Let's talk about music..on Mondays!

Hello, wonderful people! Welcome to another week, which we are going to rock again. Are you ready? :)

First off, let's start the week with some new music. While I was listening to the song of Andy Grammer called Keep Your Head Up few weeks ago, I saw these suggestions on Youtube. I clicked on them and listened and I knew right then that I found new artists to check out more often. Of course my life wouldn't be complete unless I shared to all of you my "discoveries". You may or may not know/listened to them already but let me get this opportunity to spread the word about them more. I decided to to make it a series feature. Today, I'm going to feature the first artist and the other two will be featured for the next two weeks.

*Note: The artists that I "discovered" aren't exactly new. What I meant is that this was the first time I came across them and now they can include me to their growing fans!

Andy Grammer

I have been listening to his song Keep Your Head Up long now (so technically, he wasn't one of my new discoveries but I decided to feature him also because the only song I heard from him before was KYHU). This song does a good job at making my mood so bright and happy so I usually listen to it in the morning, before going to school. It also had a message that everyone need to hear.

Keep Your Head Up



The next song is quite special. This is the song that made me want to feature him on Music Monday. I looove this song. It's live but it's really good. I also like the fun way he sang and they jammed. They seem to be having fun and it radiates to me through these little earphones.

Stepping Stones




The next songs aren't on my playlist yet, but since it reminds me..I'm gonna put it now!
Promise me to listen to every single song below? Enjoy, loves! ;)

Fireflies



Couple More Sleeves



We Could Be Amazing



Where Are You



Numbers



Build Me A Girl



Crazy Beautiful



Fine By Me



The Pocket

That's not all! You can check out more of his songs on Youtube or better yet buy them on iTunes!

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Feeling the good vibes now? He can do that with his songs! Andy Grammer is an artist who deserves more spotlight. An artist people should listen to especially if they want to start their day with cool and easy feeling, relive their sadness or stress, to have fun or just to listen to wonderful music. Now that I shared the word about him...would you want to spread the word as well? Make someone feel good today. Enjoy music and happy Monday!

Book Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

Mind Games

by Kiersten White

Series: Mind Games #1

Genre: YA, paranormal

Published February 19th 2013 by HarperTeen

Source: Publisher

Purchase: Barnes & Noble * Book Depository * Amazon

Blurb (Goodreads):

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future. 

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

My Thoughts:

Mind Games received a lot of different reviews. There were people who liked it and there were DNFs (Did Not Finish[ed]) as well. Because of this, I am almost afraid on reading this book and curious about it at the same time. But you never know unless you try, right?

The book was told in two perspectives: the sisters Fia and Annie. Fia is the younger sibling who always had the right instinct, while Annie's the older one who can see things from the future even if she's blind. They were both stuck in a situation that neither of them wants but no choice but to do so because they want to protect each other. I absolutely adore the love  and caring between these two sisters. Although I noticed that Fia is overly commentive on her thoughts and experiences that made me little annoyed and Annie pissed me from the story of their past. But Fia, my dear, is strong and fearless. I like her for that.

Apart from the sisterly love, I also liked pace of the book. It is neither slow or fast, just the right one to tell the story of the past and the present. However, I noticed that it is also too short (237 pages) for a story like this. As I look back everything I read, I feel like the entire book was just like a prologue to a more mysterious, action-packed and romantic read. I liked it but I was hoping for more from this book.

Mind Games wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't also the best for me either. There were things that didn't wowed me but I adore how one of the main characters, Fia, was made, and her potential romance. I was hoping to see more depth on Annie's character. My favorite part on this book was the near ending. I like the twist and the surprise it gave me that lead me to liking this book, overall. The ending was a deadly cliffhanger. Deadly, because it almost made me die when I saw the Acknowledgements page on the least moment I want it to appear. I guess I haven't worked myself for those kind of endings yet. *sigh* Anyway, I think readers who like mystery, action, drama and unexpected love story would enjoy Mind Games. I didn't expect I would like this. I guess we really have our own cup of tea. I just wished I've seen more from this. If the author included more or all in this book, it would be a standalone, my guess. Nevertheless, it's good.

*Thanks to Sarah and HarperCollins for providing a hardback copy in exchange of honest review!

Rating:

WWW Wednesdays (39) / Waiting on Wednesday (41): Split Second

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?






It's been a no-Wednesday post for the past two weeks! I also have little reading progress, so there's nothing much to share apart from the books I already featured two weeks ago. But at least I'm finished with Taken!

Finished Reading:

Taken by Erin Bowman

Currently Reading:

I just turned into the first page of The Year of the Great Seventh by Teresa Orts.

Read Next:

Let's hope and pray I could have enough time to finish The Year ASAP so I could start with Through The Ever Night by Veronica Rossi. I very excited with this one.

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, originally started by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights upcoming book releases everyone is waiting on.

Split Second

(Pivot Point #2)

by Kasie West

Expected publication: February 11th 2014 by HarperTeen

Blurb (Goodreads):

Life can change in a split second.

Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.

When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.

As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

YES. YES. YES! I loved Pivot Point and this book is one of the books that would make my 2014. I know it. I can feel it. EEEEP!

* * *

Any exciting books you have this week? Share your links/list with me below!

Have a wonderful Wednesday! :)

Music Monday (8): Red + Everything Has Changed

First of all, I just wanted to apologize to all of you for not posting Music Monday for the last two weeks (and barely updating my blog). I've been really busy to write a post. But I'll do my best to make you happy with my upcoming posts.

Music Monday is a weekly meme created by yours truly. Let's talk about music!

For now, I'd like to feature the newest music video from Taylor Swift. I love this girl so much and this song. Because of my busy-ness, I didn't know they released a music video for Red. And I just watched it just now. Anyhow, I liked it. It's not the best vid but I expected it to be footages from her Red tour and it's so exciting to see how theatrical, fun and energetic her concerts are. If you haven't checked it out, play the video below, and if you already did, replay! I know you want to. ;)

I'd also like to show the music video for Everything Has Changed. This was released a month ago but I haven't featured it yet so I figured I should now because it's toooo cute and toooo sweet not to do so. One of the best. Enjoy!

* * *

That's all for now. I think a Taylor-related post is worth the past two weeks. That's how I loved her. ;D

Next week!

I'm going to feature the artists I recently "discovered". I liked their music and I hope you like them too. Hint: boys. But not a boyband! Stay tuned!

Book Feature (Excerpt + Giveaway): Rush by Eve Silver

Rush
(The Game #1)
by Eve Silver

Release Date: June 11, 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen

Blurb (Goodreads):

So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. 

There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

Links:
http://youtu.be/9GGDz5LuyHo (Trailer)
http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Game-Book-Eve-Silver/dp/0062192132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372277144&sr=1-1&keywords=rush+eve+silver
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rush-eve-silver/1112669243?ean=9780062192134
http://www.bookdepository.com/Rush-Eve-Silver/9780062192134
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Rush/book-1dtUlJ3jlEWZrORT-TNcjg/page1.html?s=GmLboQcXnEKFBwGv8gzlpg&r=1

* * *

Excerpt:

   There’s a flash of light, blindingly bright. Colored haloes obscure my vision. They dance and flicker and then disappear, leaving only a rectangle of light boxed in by the dark doorframe. 

   I see then that the door’s gone and in front of me are people. No…they aren’t people. They have limbs, hair, faces, but they aren’t human. After the first glance, they don’t look even remotely human. They’re pure, painful white, so bright they throw off a glare. They look like they’ve been dipped in glass, smooth and polished, but fluid. And their eyes…they’re a silvery color, like the mercury in the antique thermometer that my mom used to have at the side of the front porch. 

   When I was ten, I knocked that thermometer off with my wooden kendo sword, shattering the glass. The little blobs of mercury went all over the porch. I was a kid. I didn’t know better. I touched them, prodding the little balls until they joined the bigger blob. My mom swooped down on me and snatched me away, telling me it was poison. It could kill me. 

   I stare at the things in front of me: the Drau. I can’t look away. 

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember Jackson talking about Medusa. 

   Don’t look at their eyes.

   Their mercury eyes.

   They’re poison.

   They will kill me.

* * *

About the Author:

Eve Silver lives with her gamer husband and sons, sometimes in Canada, but often in worlds she dreams up. She loves kayaking and sunshine, dogs and desserts, and books, lots and lots of books. Watch for the first book in Eve’s new teen series, THE GAME: RUSH, coming from Katherine Tegen Books, June 2013. She also writes books for adults.

Links:
http://www.evesilver.net/
http://www.evesilver.net/blog/
http://www.goodreads.com/Eve_Silver
https://twitter.com/Eve_Silver
https://www.facebook.com/evesilverbooks
http://eve-silver.tumblr.com/
http://pinterest.com/evesilver/

GIVEAWAY!
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Book Review: Stray by Monica Hesse

Stray

by Monica Hesse

Genre: YA, dystopian, sci-fi

Published June 6th 2013 by Hot Key Books

Source: Publisher

Purchase: Amazon

Blurb (Goodreads):

Lona Sixteen Always is not herself - quite literally. She lives her life virtually through the experiences of Julian, a boy who was chosen as a role model for the Pathers of Quadrant 1 - troubled children who have been 'rescued' by the government and put 'on-Path'. But one day Lona finds she can think for herself. And on top of that, the face of a familiar boy appears on her screen - Fenn, who she thought had moved on to a different stage of the Path last year. But he didn't. Fenn and other rebels like him have strayed from the Path, and now Lona must stray too. But life off-Path is strange and difficult, and Lona uncovers a secret that will threaten all their lives. Can there really be life after the Path?

My Thoughts:

The blurb is utterly confusing. That's what I thought when I re-read it the time I received the copy of this book from the publisher, where at first, I thought this was the book I'd like. After re-reading it, I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe this book wasn't really for me and I should've read thoroughly first before requesting it. I read the first page, and almost cried because I can't seem to understand it.

This is what I found out after reading a few chapters: Lona Sixteen Always was the name of our leading character. I know that sounds weird, but her name was based from a quite complicated assignment. Sixteen was her year indicator and Always was the Julian Path (which you have to learn too, by reading the book) when she entered it. The Lona name was not really a name, as well. Each letter has different meanings: from her birthdate, sector and quadrant. There are also words that when they talk, was really weird. I thought there were some typos at first, but thankfully, it was explained afterwards.

After reading with patience, I learned to understand and adapt the pace, the world-building and the characters. I was surprised on how much I end up liking it and looking forward in every turn of the page. Stray wasn't like other dystopian-sci-fi novels. It has a fresh attack for readers like me, a well-thought plot and background, a consistent and effective characters and a love story I never saw coming. It came to me bittersweet.

Although I noticed it doesn't have action-packed scenes and I wished there were more than the ending it gave, I enjoyed reading Stray. I know that you, my dear readers, would like it as well. Dystopian, sci-fi, romance and even contemporary fans would love this book. Make sure to also have the patience in reading the first few chapters in order to fully understand it. Stray is simple, yet it has something to say. It deserves to be on the spotlight. Well-done to the debut author, Monica Hesse.

*Super thanks to Olivia and Hot Key Books for a paperback copy for an honest review of this book!

Rating: